FRIENDS of DICK NUNN
Saving Dick Nunn's Smithy
With Nunn's Bridge now saved and at last fully restored (for an account of the campaign click here; Campaign) we are now seeking to Save the Smithy where Dick Nunn spent his working life and where he built the bridge.
Disguised behind two modern garage doors, Dick Nunn's smithy is a remarkable and now rare example of a Victorian village smithy. The interior, exterior and roof have survived essentially intact and create a very atmospheric place with it's smoke-blackened walls, forge, leather bellows and quenching bath. The smithy is roofed mainly with local pantiles - except that is for the west side where Dick's efforts to burn out a wasps nest with a soldering iron started a fire which meant that that part was roofed with slate.
Only the west elevation has been altered. In the 1970s two up and over garage doors were fitted into that end of the building but this could quite easily be rectified and the elevation returned to something very close to its original condition as unlike the other three walls which use local bricks, it was 'half timbered' - plaster between timber uprights.
Just opposite the forge is the cottage where Dick Nunn lived, where he bought up his children and where in 1896, he died.
In an extraordinary gesture of generosity the owner of the smithy wants it preserved and we are presently investigating how that would best be done.
An application has been made to Historic England to have the forge listed and we are expecting them to make their own assessment in early 2022.
Our plan is to restore the building and open it to the public as a museum.
The interior would feature two forges ( we hope to reinstate the hearth which was dismantled in the 1970s), the full range of blacksmiths tools (which have already and very generously been donated) as well as displays to celebrate the life of Dick Nunn, social campaigner and preserver of rights-of-way and also to show the role of the blacksmith in the life of a village during Victorian times.
If you would like to become a friend of Dick Nunn, please use the contact form below.
Read more about Dick Nunn and his bridge here; Dick Nunn
With Nunn's Bridge now saved and at last fully restored (for an account of the campaign click here; Campaign) we are now seeking to Save the Smithy where Dick Nunn spent his working life and where he built the bridge.
Disguised behind two modern garage doors, Dick Nunn's smithy is a remarkable and now rare example of a Victorian village smithy. The interior, exterior and roof have survived essentially intact and create a very atmospheric place with it's smoke-blackened walls, forge, leather bellows and quenching bath. The smithy is roofed mainly with local pantiles - except that is for the west side where Dick's efforts to burn out a wasps nest with a soldering iron started a fire which meant that that part was roofed with slate.
Only the west elevation has been altered. In the 1970s two up and over garage doors were fitted into that end of the building but this could quite easily be rectified and the elevation returned to something very close to its original condition as unlike the other three walls which use local bricks, it was 'half timbered' - plaster between timber uprights.
Just opposite the forge is the cottage where Dick Nunn lived, where he bought up his children and where in 1896, he died.
In an extraordinary gesture of generosity the owner of the smithy wants it preserved and we are presently investigating how that would best be done.
An application has been made to Historic England to have the forge listed and we are expecting them to make their own assessment in early 2022.
Our plan is to restore the building and open it to the public as a museum.
The interior would feature two forges ( we hope to reinstate the hearth which was dismantled in the 1970s), the full range of blacksmiths tools (which have already and very generously been donated) as well as displays to celebrate the life of Dick Nunn, social campaigner and preserver of rights-of-way and also to show the role of the blacksmith in the life of a village during Victorian times.
If you would like to become a friend of Dick Nunn, please use the contact form below.
Read more about Dick Nunn and his bridge here; Dick Nunn
Comments
By David (The Wandering Ponderer): I am trying to do a video on Dick (Henry) Nunn this work is invaluable to that Goal.
Thank You By Nik Slade: Please can you add me to your mailing list to keep informed. Dick Nunn is my great great great grandfather and I’d love to visit and help support the museum. I am an artist and have worked in gallery and museum education so I am fascinated by the discovery that this is my Granny Gracie’s grandfather as I remember her well. Thanks, Nik.